Okay. As of today I have finished with the Fuel lines. I never in my life want to do this again so help me.

Protip: Spend the extra for Steel braided lines. Feeding the new lines in was such a PITA to get them lined up and set properly that I would never have dealt with had I gotten steel braided flexible lines.

:Lines I bought were from Linestogo.com, in case anyone is thinking of getting some from them. Really good quality, highly recommend. Customer service lady when I had to call them was lovely and super helpful for what she could help me with.

Anyway, that bracket on the back of the engine? I finally managed to get to it. To do so, you need to remove the transmission crossmember and let the transmission drop to rest on the Torsion bar rail and the Frame support. Not all that hard to do. Highly recommend that you consider replacing the transmission mount at the same time, as it will be free and in sight. Also recommend disconnecting the front and rear driveshafts. Front for more room to reach in, rear to prevent a binding when lowering the transmission.

Once you have the transmission lowered enough with the driveline pivoting on the engine mounts, you will just be able to see the bolt and bracket. It is a 9/16ths Bolt (Or at least that's the size it was on mine) and I managed to finagle a wrench in then to gently twist it loose until I could finger it loose the rest of the way. Once it was out, the rest of the lines were loose and free. Getting them around the firewall and transmission bellhousing is still a PITA, but doable. Just grab the lines one at a time.

Feeding new pre-bent hard lines in was a nightmare. As said, HIGHLY recommend just going the extra mile and getting fully steel braided. Linestogo offers some, but only for the feed and return lines. If you need to replace the evap line, sorry to say but IDK about that. Full pre-bent kit includes all three lines though, and the Evap was honestly the easiest because of how it's angled. Getting the pre-bent feed and return lines in required raising and lowering the transmission multiple times to try and get it up in place. Doable, but a nightmare without removing the whole transmission.

Now, I had secondary issues that came later. My return line refused to seperate near the fuel filter, no matter how much a pulled and pried. I had to destroy the plastic connector and soak it in WD-40 to eventually break it loose. Sadly, this may have damaged the line as well, as once I had plugged all the hoses in, I found the Return line leaking at the joint of the new to old lines. Tried using o-rings of various sizes, none worked. So I ended up just cutting the line futher back, slipping a brake line style connection fitting, and using the end of the old evap line (Which was free, clear of rust, and the exact same size and shape) also with a brake line style fitting and a union joint to connect everything up. Lemme tell ya, double flaring that fuel line while it was IN the vehicle was no fun.

Prayed like hell, and it fixed my leak. Halleloo.

So yeah. In summary, if you are thinking of doing this: Get steel braided flexible lines. It will save yourself such a headache in so many ways.

Now my new task: Replacing my Cat converter, which has begun making a "Tonk" sound as though something is loose and occasionally smacking around in there.

 

Thank you for the update!

 

Good Guide, aught to be linked in the partially dead helpful articles thread.

 

Thanks. I did what I could. Had I thought about it I'd have taken pictures of the process. I've seen plenty of vids and write-ups for the rear fuel lines from the filter to the tank, but nothing for the front lines. So, figured I'd lay out my process for anyone else needing to do it.

 

Maybe you could do it again, and take pictures this time?

 

OP, now that you’ve got the old lines out, can you take some pics and show everyone where the leak was?
I’m curious myself since I’ve never seen the upper factory stainless lines rot through before.

 

Will do at some point this week. I'm not sure where exactly the lines had the leak, as I suspect it was pinholes and not a clear break, but there was definitely rot on some of the lines. New ones haven't leaked since installing.

 

Can't find where the leak itself was on the line(s), but here's photos of the lines. In order from top to bottom: vapor, feed, return.

 

BorderCougah, thanks for all that info. What a bitch it must have been to do all that. I have a 1997 4 door, 4WD and I was wondering what it would take if I ever needed to pull the upper parts of the fuel lines; glad I don't need to, I don't think I could handle what you did. Thanks for suggesting the flexible steel braided lines though, they sound much easier to install. I'm doing the rear parts now, from Fuel filter back, and that's PITA enough. I knew I had a leak (rust hole) in the tank, so I replaced it, and the front-of-tank vapor line was broken off from the tank-connector, but I fixed that too, and I still had another leak. I tested the fuel pressure at the test port and got almost 0, so I replaced the feed line, and apparently that wasn't the bad line even though it was super rusted in the middle. It still leaked so now I'll replace the rear-Return line. Such a pain when you can't see which one is leaking while it's all together. Anyway, thanks for your postings.